Molliter Pryzberowski (or, as he is known by those in the Tinkerer's Guild, "Old Tinkey") is, as they say in the Tinkerer's Guild, "A bit of a Tinkerer". Ever fascinated with thwarting small creatures attempts to fit through tiny holes in things, there was a small movement on the part of the Tinkerer's Guildmembers to change his monniker to "Old Strainey", but "Old Tinkey" was already embroidered on his Tinkerer's apron. Birthed in Poland by a mother of Polish lineage and a father of German origin, he soon realized that America was where he had to go. Six weeks after his seventeenth birthday, he set sail for the New World in a boat that he built out of pamphlets. Nine months later, he set off again in a boat that he made out of trees. One and a third years later, in the fall of 1890, he was released from the Iverson Hospital in Lafayette, Maryland. He was finally an uninvited Guest of the American People!
Over the next Seven Years, Molliter (or, as he was known by legitimate citizens, "that filthy Tramp") worked his way toward the Midwest, which was, as he had been led to believe, "the heart of a booming Storm Door market," which was false. Along the way, he learned what he could about animation from the hobos, drifters, angry loners, and bums that he failed to avoid. One of the many technological developments he learned of was a thing called "Motion Picture Film." His intrigue at this news would lead him to one of his Greatest Innovations.
Falling off a train and breaking his leg in Home-Wood, Illinois, he walked to the local Physic's house using a Cane he had made from Bread. Later, he hobbled the rest of the way using Crutches he made from Shovels. There, he learned of an animated photo-play studio in Home-Wood that was in need of a screen man.
In his travels, Molliter had seen the Suspicion, Fear, and Violence with which the Public had expressed their fascination with the new science of Motion Picture films. The Terror, he reasoned, stemmed from seeing Photo-pictographs of actual Humans in Motion. Pryzberowski postulated that this Horror could be allayed with Humor. This led to his first series of Short Films produced at Star-Toones in which moving Actors were got-up in suits made of boxes and rubber steam-hoses, making them seem less Real and more Drawing-like. In fig.2, we see a drawing from his early work, "Mr. Hobart's Boomful Blast".
This technique, while a Motion-Picture Failure, proved to be a postitive boon for Animated Photo-Plays (saving the animator the troublesome drawing of Elbows and Knees), and now promises to be one of the Most-Favored Trends in the coming century of Photo-Play Entertainment.
One of the last WB series that Startoons worked on, Histeria was an odd cast of characters that seemed to change personalities all the time. I believe they would even change their race if the script called for it. This image was one of the golden moments from the show - where we got to animate a classic WB character. This scene is from "The Wild West" if I'm not mistaken (judging by Miss Information's getup). Bugs Bunny was skillfully handled by Director John Griffin, delivering his classic line I'm assuming - I can hardly remember since I probably last saw this show only when it aired. I'm sure John could help fill in the details. "The Wild West" was the first Histeria show Startoons worked on, and the show that was in production when Startoons moved from 900 Ridge Road to the VFW building on Harwood.
